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Should I become a Vegan?

Thinking Of Becoming A Vegan?

Do you ever think about becoming a vegan? Only you can decide this. Many people become one for many different reasons. When I asked myself, “Should I become a vegan?”, many years ago, I tried to learn all I could about it. I wish the internet was around as it is now, because it would have made it so much easier.
I honestly think that seeing the declining health of my Dad is what scared me into learning about health at the time. I realized there had to be a better way. Our health should not decline as we get older. My poor Dad suffered so many problems that were the result of the way he ate.

I only started to discover this after I began my journey learning about the diet, and what foods are good and what are not especially good for the body. Some foods can really harm our health, maybe not immediately, but over time they will.

My dad was a meat and potatoes man. He honestly didn’t put the connection together that his health was the result of what he put into his body. He thought meat was a necessity. I lost him years ago, and I miss him very much.

I just know he could have lived a much longer, happier and healthier life if he just knew and applied the things I have learned about eating.

Thinking long term

Most people do not think long term about things.

They just think short term gratification. This is a mistake! Especially when it comes to diet. That short term gratification of eating that jellied filled donut, or that tender juicy steak now will come back to haunt you later on.

Think about your kids and grandkids who really love you and need you and want you around as long as they can.

If you are a Dad or Mom, please let this play a huge part in your decision making. Think long term.

You can be a healthy mom and dad, and then grandmother and grandfather that will be around a long time for your kids and grandkids. Do it for them.

There are so many diet related health problems these days, and I know that some will argue that they have a relative that drank or smoked and ate meat every day of their life, and lived till 90. They are an exception, and are not the usual outcome. Do not listen to this nonsense.

Eating a vegan; whole food plant based diet will keep your body healthy even into old age. You will not have any regrets.

The Sacrifices Of Becoming One

There are no sacrifices to be made on this diet. At first you may think so, you may even be thinking, I miss my meat and my pizza.

But keep at it because you will be rewarded with excellent health and vitality into your old age, by feeding your body what it needs and that is whole food plant meals. Your taste buds will change and you will start to appreciate fresh whole plant foods.

Keep in mind, there are ways to make pizza, without the cheese of course, but after a while you will not even miss it. Believe me when I tell you this, I went through all this without much help, and I survived and I am so glad now. I love the foods I eat, I really enjoy them. You will too. I do not miss any of the animal foods I used to eat. When I am eating a delicious vegan meal, that is the last thing on my mind.

How Complicated Is It?

Everything new seems complicated at first, but that is why I’m here to help you through all of this.

Make a shopping list before you go to the store. Have at least 6 recipes, old favorites or a few new ones. Think of breakfast, lunch and dinner and a few snacks.

Follow the Vegan Six food groups, from one of my other posts and you can’t go wrong. As you get a few easy to make recipes that you enjoy, keep adding to your recipes list. To me it is very exciting to discover a new recipe that is not only delicious but also healthy.

A lot of people eat only for taste. You should think, “Is this meal healthy?” first, and then work on the taste, maybe by changing up the spices a bit. When you have a healthy recipe and great taste, to me it is like winning the lottery.

Will My Social Life Change

It depends what kind of social life you have to start with. If you hit the bars and night spots a lot, then yes it will and should change for your own good. But if you are talking about the occassional restuarant meal, then it will change some.

What I mean by this, if you are able to, find out if the restuarant is vegan friendly. Only there may be a time when you are meeting someone at the last minute and can’t call ahead. If this happens look to the side dishes, you can usually order a baked potatoe and rice. Also you could order a salad and/or vegan soup.

I honestly don’t eat in restuarants much any more. I enjoy my own foods too much, plus I know what is in the food that I prepare. But there are many vegan friendly restaraunts around to accomodate us, depending where you live. At buffet restaraunt types it is usually pretty easy to find decent food.

If I go to a party that I suspect may not have any vegan options, then I make sure to eat something before I leave, just in case. That way I am not too hungry.

There are definitely some adjustments, but after a while you won’t even think twice about them. You could even bring your own vegan dish to the party, and let other people experience healthy and delicious food.

Always have food on hand, so you can whip something up that is healthy and quick. You will eventually learn different tricks of the trade, in making good healthy vegan food. If you are a good cook to start, then you have a big advantage, because you will know how to season your plant based meals to taste out of this world. Because keep in mind when you were eating meat, you had to season it to make it taste good. You can use the same skills to season your vegetarian meals.

People are great adaptors, you will adapt to this great lifestyle over time. Just be very commited to it, because you will be rewarded with the greatest gift we have, and that is our health.

Will I Be Missing Any Nutrients?

I really don’t worry too much about this any more. You might want to get a B12 supplement though, and it is not that this is missing but it is found in soil. Many meat eaters are B12 deficient.

Some people think that you will get anemic from not getting iron from meat. This is not true. There is plenty of iron in different plant food, such as raisins, and greens, just to name a few.

Calcium is found in abundance in many plant foods. When you follow the “Vegan Six”, you will get pretty much all the nutrition you will need. You need this variety.

If you are an athlete, you just need to eat more, I do this every day. I always had a big appetite, and still do. When I began eating vegan, I ate a lot of fruits and vegetables but not very much grains. The result was I lost too much weight.

It was weight I didn’t need or want to lose. But when I increased my whole grain intake, and added a few nuts and seeds, I gained the weight I wanted to gain back. You see you need the nutrients of the fruits and vegetables, but you also need the calories of the grains, beans, and small amount of nuts and seeds.

No matter what your goals are, whether it be to lose unwanted weight, gain weight (such as muscle from exercise) and/or just to have more energy and be more healthy in the process, then this lifestyle diet is the answer you have been looking for.

Give it a try.

Until next time, Have a wonderful healthy day.

Bill

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